Charlie’s Produce - Who We Are
Charlie's Produce is a privately owned wholesale produce company. We are the largest privately owned produce wholesaler on the West Coast, with distribution centers in Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Anchorage, Boise, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The secret to our 40 years of success in this industry is PEOPLE! We strive to hire the best and we reward them with a working environment that fosters loyalty, stability, innovation, and growth.
Charlie's Produce provides a healthy employee stock ownership program, competitive Medical/Dental/Vision and Life Insurance plans. And our newest benefit offers Pre-Paid Fully Funded College Tuition to our employees and the dependent children of our employees after 1 year!
Responsibilities
The Role:
As a Category Manager you will work with internal and external partners to manage and grow your assigned category / categories. This position is responsible for developing, communicating, and executing sourcing strategies for those specific categories assigned. This position will work with sales, purchasing, and other team members to successfully achieve department and company goals and objectives. Specific duties include all aspects of category management, including but not limited to, product assortment decisions, pricing, promotional strategies, and managing vendor relationships.
The primary purpose of this position is to secure the right product, at the right price, from the right source, at the right time to enable the Company to profitability and competitively meet customer needs. The ideal candidate is a detail oriented team player who has experience buying fresh produce. In this key role, you will use best practices to manage all buying activities from forecasting and inventory management, to vendor management and PO reconciliation. Must be highly flexible to meet the needs of the business and have an ability to work in a fast work environment.
Essential Responsibilities Include, but Not Limited To
- Actively manage assigned categories to achieve company financial goals and objectives
- Assume direct responsibility for assigned categories including assortment, sales, pricing strategy, promotional planning, and monitoring
- Lead assigned category projects aimed at increasing profitability, sales, and introduction of new items
- Align with other team members to maintain positive, engaged and productive partnerships in sourcing and development of products
- Analyze data or insights to determine industry and consumer trends
- Devise long-term development strategies for produce categories
- Develop exit strategies for unsuccessful products
- Foster trust relationships with vendors to achieve better pricing and quality of services
- Liaise with purchasing and sales to determine competitive pricing and promotional activities of a product category
- Assume responsibility of budget development and revenue growth for assigned categories
- Make forecasts for produce demand to ensure the sustainability of inventory
- Collaborate with buyers, sales, and other specific team members
- Review and decision makings on vendor and SKU rationalization needs
Charlie’s Produce Total Compensation Package includes
- Competitive starting pay
- Medical/Dental/Vision after 60-days
- Supplemental retirement plan through our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
- Robust employee assistance program (EAP)
- 50% subsidized ORCA Passes
- Prepaid College Tuition after 1-year
- 401(k) available
Qualifications
Desired Qualifications:
- Proven experience (3-5years) as a category manager of perishable products preferably in the produce industry
- Solid knowledge of category management, marketing and sales principles
- Understanding of data analysis and forecasting methods
- Proficient in MS Office, Tableau
- Excellent communication and people skills
Supplemental Information
This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the Social Security Administration and if necessary the Department of Homeland Security with information from each new employee's Form I-9 to confirm work authorization.
Charlie's Produce is an Equal Opportunity Employer
All new hires must be able to pass a pre-employment drug test- excluding THC
As an essential employer and key contributor to our community’s food distribution chain, we will follow all state and federal guidelines on vaccination mandates, allowing for an accommodation for those that qualify.
